Martyrs' Families Council: 16 March still present in Kurds' memory

The Martyrs' Families Council in Aleppo city has condemned the massacres of Halabja and Afrin, and said that March 16 is an unforgettable date for the Kurdish people because of the massacres committed by those who wanted to impose their domination over Kurdistan, and they promised to follow the martyrs' path.

Thirty-one years ago, on March 16, 1988, the Iraqi former dictatorial regime committed a massacre in the city of Halabja, which killed nearly five thousand civilians, and in 2018 on the same date, the Turkish occupation under the auspices of Erdogan committed a massacre against the people of Afrin canton.

Thus, in commemoration of the martyrs of the Halabja and Afrin massacres, the Martyrs' Families Council in al-Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood of Aleppo issued a statement to the public opinion condemning the international silence in the presence of tens of mothers, parents and wives of the martyrs.

The statement was read before the council by the wife of a martyr, Silva Mustafa.

The text of the statement:

"The 16th day of March is an unforgettable date for the Kurdish people and thirty-one years have passed on Halabja massacre carried out by the Iraqi dictatorial regime in order to impose its domination all over Kurdistan.

On March 16, 2018, the Turkish occupation and its mercenaries' warplanes also committed a massacre in al-Mahmudiyyah neighborhood in the center of Afrin city during the battles which lasted for 58, inflicting devastation to the history, monuments, stones and people and committing great crimes.

Many massacres were committed against the peoples demanding freedom, such as the March 12, 2004 massacre of the Syrian Baathist regime, the massacre committed by IS in Kobani and the massacres committed by the Turkish state in Afrin canton.

The scenario of the massacre of Halabja took place at the same date in 1988 at the hands of the former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein who killed about five thousand Kurds, mostly children and women in the bombardment carried out with internationally prohibited chemical weapons, and which has become a black blot on the forehead of humanity and in particular the occupying regimes of Kurdistan. We know that the month of March has a disastrous and special history in the history of the people of Kurdistan, including incidents, massacres, the killing of our people, the martyrdom of the comrade Mazloum Dogan and Agid through the massacre of Halabja and Qamishlo and finally the massacre of Afrin.

Therefore, we, in the Martyrs' Families Council in Aleppo, condemn, denounce and tell the enemies of humanity who committed massacres and killed the people of Kurdistan, "You will pay expensive price." We will not forget our martyrs, struggle and remain faithful on their path because our international leader Abdullah Ocalan said that the martyrs are our leaders.